Sometimes, we get caught up in the moment and allow our tempers to get the best of us when someone hurts us. It's only after the fact that we learn the true gravity of our revenge. The people in the following stories shared how they later learn to regret the actions they took when trying to get back at a friend, spouse, or family member.
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
He Ended Up Losing More Than A Fiancée
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“During a rough patch with my (now ex) fiancé, he admitted to me that he had been cheating on me and was involved with someone else. At the time, he was the General Manager of a company that was being sold, but none of the employees knew, as the company needed to be up and operating through the sale, at which time everyone would be out of a job, including him. But he was getting some big money for his efforts.
When he came clean about the cheating, I went out and had drinks with a friend. I came home that night and called everyone’s voice mail and left a message with the details of what was happening to their jobs and the company. It was a complete mutiny the next day.”
An Affair To Remember
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“A married female coworker I was sleeping with accused me of violating and harassing her when she thought her husband might find out about our affair. We had been friends for over a year before the affair started and I thought I knew her pretty well. There wasn’t anything over the course of our friendship that led me to believe she would accuse me of that. In response, I had the letters and pictures she had been sending me anonymously sent to her husband.
She ended up getting fired and her husband tried to take her two kids away. He literally showed up at our workplace, threw the pictures and letters in her face, and dragged their kids away crying. She was estranged from her family living far away from where she grew up and her husband and kids were basically all she had.
Seeing the terrified look on her kid’s faces made me think maybe I went too far.
I was sent home for a few days but did keep my job. I never saw her again after that. I heard from friends of hers that she did manage to spin the situation enough to keep her kids but beyond that, I’m not 100% how everything went with her. That was definitely enough to scare me 1st to never sleep with another co-worker and 2nd to stay away from married women.”
Don’t Handle Rejection Like This
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“I was interested in dating a guy in high school. We made out a few times at parties but he didn’t want to be my boyfriend. Apparently, he was more interested in my friend. I was really angry about this, so when his parents went out of town, and he threw a party, I decided it would be funny to teach him a lesson, and invite a bunch of random people to crash it. His house was totaled. Walls were smashed in, there was graffiti everywhere, carpets had paint thrown on them. Needless to say, this wasn’t what I had in mind. I thought a few groups of extra people rocking up would be a hassle for him, maybe the cops would get called, but not what happened.
Monday rolled around, and I saw him standing at the local shops carrying a suitcase and his skateboard. His parents kicked him out of the house.
I never told him what I did and I never found out who the people were that trashed the house, but I always remembered and always regretted putting out the open invite.”
“Why Don’t You Join Your Mom?”
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“In middle school, my good friend’s mom died. We lived in a very religious town, but her family was not particularly religious.
A few weeks after the funeral, my friend started acting strangely toward me. She would call me a see-you-next-Tuesday when she walked past me in the hallway at school. She’d give me the finger and she started turning everyone against me. I had no clue why.
One day, my best friend and I were walking home after school and this friend almost hit me with her bike, started calling me names and swore at me. Before I could even think, I said the worst thing I could ever say to a friend.